‘The Silent Forest’: First Clip From Saralisa Volm’s Directorial Debut – Berlin

Manori Ravindran International EditorWarnerMedia has struck a first-look deal with German-Turkish director Fatih Akin.The tie-up marks the first exclusive deal of its kind for Akin in his 27-year career. The helmer is best known for such films as “In The Fade” (2017), “Head-On” (2004) and “Soul Kitchen” (2009).

German-Turkish film director, screenwriter, and producer Fatih Akin has signed a first-look deal with WarnerMedia, the first such agreement the filmmaker has made in his career.

K.J. Yossman Sky have released first look images for a new Sky Original drama, “Unwanted.”Inspired by the book “Bilal,” an investigative book from journalist Fabrizio Gatti, the eight-part series tells the story of an undercover human rights defender who is helping migrants journey from Africa to Europe as they battle human traffickers and government officials.Stefano Bises (“Gomorrah”) created and wrote the series in collaboration with with the collaboration of Alessandro Valenti, Bernardo Pellegrini and Michela Straniero.

Beach House kicked off their US tour in Pittsburgh last night (February 18), and they gave live debuts to a number of tracks from new LP ‘Once Twice Melody’.The Baltimore duo – comprised of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally – released the follow-up to 2018’s ‘7’ in four separate parts, with the final instalment arriving yesterday.Beach House’s show at Pittsburgh’s Stage AE saw them give multiple songs from the album –  ‘Pink Funeral’, ‘Superstar’, ‘Masquerade’, ‘New Romance’ and the title track – their live debut.You can check out some clips from the show below:‘Once Twice Melody’ (Live debut)‘Silver Soul’‘Dark Spring’‘PPP’‘Pink Funeral’ (Live debut)‘Lazuli’‘Beyond Love’‘Superstar’ (Live debut)‘Bluebird’‘Masquerade’ (Live debut)‘Myth’‘Drunk In LA’‘Take Care’‘New Romance’ (Live debut)‘Somewhere Tonight’‘Girl Of The Year’‘Space Song’‘Lemon Glow’Beach House will kick off a UK and European tour in May; the stint includes a headline performance at the O2 Academy Brixton in London – remaining tickets can he found here.The full schedule is as follows:MAY 202121 – The National Stadium, Dublin23 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow24 – Manchester Academy, Manchester26 – O2 Academy Brixton, London28 – De Roma, Antwerp30 – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels31 – L’Olympia, ParisJUNE 20212 – Paloma, Nimes4 – Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona7 – Carlswerk Victoria, Cologne8 – Columbiahalle, Berlin9 – Falkoner Centre, CopenhagenSpeaking in a recent interview with NME, Beach House singer Victoria Legrand described ‘Once Twice Melody’ as “the most all-consuming album that we’ve ever worked on”.“We became so fully submerged in this universe,” she explained.

Moderat have announced their fourth album and their first release since 2016’s ‘III’, ‘MORE D4TA’ – find the art and full tracklist below.The 10-track album is set to be released on May 13 on Monkeytown Records, and can be pre-ordered here. It features lyrics inspired by member Sascha Ring’s trips to Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum, often with his infant daughter.As the album itself was written during the pandemic era, many of Ring’s ruminations were on his worries for the future as he pondered the museum’s antique paintings, leading to many of the album’s songs dealing with “feelings of isolation and information overload”.Moderat have shared the first preview of the album in the song ‘Fast Land’, which received a striking music video directed by Ben Miethke. Watch it here:The supergroup – comprising Sascha Ring of Apparat and Modeselektor’s Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary – first announced their hiatus in 2017 to focus on their own projects, and subsequently spent two years apart before reuniting to release more music as a group.Moderat recently announced a tour including stops at London’s Alexandra Palace on October 31 and Barcelona’s Sónar Festival on June 17.

Winners are being announced for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. Follow the ceremony live via the below video feed from 7PM CET / 10AM PST, with the red carpet now underway.

Holly Jones By way of improvisation, relying heavily on events to naturally develop, Argentine filmmaker Gastón Solnicki presents a meandering ode to the city of Vienna, its customs, cultures, facades, and the near-sacrilege of enacting a smoking ban in cafes city-wide.In, “A Little Love Package,” two main protagonists become the vehicles through which the minutiae of everyday life in Vienna unfolds. Experimental aural and visual cues present themselves as Angeliki (Angeliki Papoulia) and Carmen (Carmen Chaplin) seek the perfect apartment in a city suspended in time.Produced by Little Magnet Films, out of Austria, and Solnicki’s Argentine production company, Filmy Wiktora, “A Little Love Package” is the fifth cinematic feature for Solnicki, whose entire catalog was recently acquired by MOMA.

EXCLUSIVE: Isaki Lacuesta’s drama One Year, One Night (Un Año, Una Noche), about survivors grappling with trauma following the devastating terrorist attack at Paris’ Bataclan theater on November 13, 2015, world premieres in competition at the Berlin Film Festival today. Check out a clip above as a group of friends discusses messages of support they received in the wake of the tragedy.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar has cast Indian actor Tannishtha Chatterjee as one of the leads in his upcoming feature “The Sky Is Mine.”Chatterjee’s credits include “Brick Lane” (2007), for which she scored a best actress nomination at the British Independent Film Awards, “Parched” (2015) and “Lion” (2016). She won the Asia Star Award for best Asian filmmaker at Busan for her directorial debut, “Roam Rome Mein” (2019).Rauniyar’s latest work, short film “Four Nights,” is playing at Berlinale Shorts. The filmmaker’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his sophomore feature “White Sun” (2016) won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals.

Holly Jones Bolivian-Mexican filmmaker Natalia López Gallardo enjoyed tandem careers in editing (“Jauja,” “Post Tenebras Lux”) and acting (“Nuestro Tiempo”), as she made her debut as auteur with the short film “En el cielo como en la tierra.” In her first feature-length project, “Robe of Gems,” she tackles the parallel individual struggles of three women against a backdrop of unrelenting cartel infiltration.What lured you into directing after careers in editing and acting? Was it a natural progression?Definitely, yes, it was there, but I think maybe it took time to accumulate the big necessity. I think it’s very important to have that need to do a film. It’s not a desire; it’s not an objective; you have to need it because that impulse that makes you start a film has to last maybe five years with the same power.

EXCLUSIVE: The Berlin Film Festival, which got underway on Thursday evening, has recorded more than 60 positive Covid results from its testing procedures, organizers have confirmed to us.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian director Roberta Torre, known for campy Mafia musical “Tano to Die For” and other anarchic pics, is making “Le Favolose,” about a group of transgender women who reunite after 20 years to commemorate a dead friend and do right by her after her identity has been violated.“Le Favolose,” which translates as “The Fabulous Ones,” is being produced by Donatella Palermo, who is at the Berlinale with auteur Paolo Taviani’s competition entry “Leonora Addio.”Palermo, who has a longstanding rapport with Torre, is the Italian producer behind two Berlin Golden Bear winners: the Taviani brothers’ “Caesar Must Die” and Gianfranco Rosi’s “Fire at Sea.” “When a person decides to face the [gender] transition from man to woman it can be a very painful process in several different ways: social, physical, etc.,” said Palermo, who notes that “when a trans dies, most of the time their body is returned to their families.” Torre’s new pic is based on a real-life story of Antonia, one of the “Fabulous Ones,” who is buried by her family dressed as a man under her original name, Giampaolo, amid the indifference of most.

Outré horror maestro Peter Strickland is back. The filmmaker behind such Eurotica, vintage, throwback classics such as “Berberian Sound Studio” (2012), “The Duke of Burgundy” (2014), and “In Fabric” (2018), returns to the Berlin Film Festival this week (today, in fact), with his latest deliciously bizarro offering, “Flux Gourmet.” The premise? Something like beef within the culinary/sonic art collective world and a whole set of egos and intestinal issues.

The first phase of plans to redevelop Piccadilly Gardens has been revealed.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran editor Natalia Lopez Gallardo’s feature directing debut Robe Of Gems screens in competition today at the Berlin Film Festival, check out the first trailer above.

Naman Ramachandran Protagonist Pictures has closed multiple deals for several key territories on Sundance selection and Berlin Film Festival competition title “Call Jane.”Territories sold include DCM for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Umbrella Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Mis.label for Scandinavia, Eagle for Italy, Shaw for Singapore and Empire for South Africa.Directed by Phyllis Nagy, the Oscar nominated writer of “Carol,” the film stars Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mara and Chris Messina. The film follows Joy (Banks), a traditional 1960s housewife who unexpectedly falls pregnant and finds the Janes, an underground abortion movement led by Virginia (Weaver).

When you think of the Mount Rushmore directors of horror, names like Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and George A. Romero all come to mind immediately.

Manori Ravindran International EditorChrissy Metz, the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated star of “This Is Us,” stars alongside “It” actor Wyatt Oleff and Fin Argus in Jamie Sisley’s drama “Stay Awake,” which premieres at the Berlin Film Festival this week.The feature — which is based on Sisley’s 2015 short film of the same name — centers on brothers Ethan (Oleff) and Derek (Argus), who are trying their best to navigate the pressures of teenage life while tending to their mother’s (Metz) debilitating prescription drug addiction.Based on Sisley’s experience growing up in small-town America, “Stay Awake” is billed as “a personal exploration of the roller coaster ride that families go on while trying to help their loved ones battle a disease that affects millions every day.” In an exclusive clip shared with Variety, the two brothers are shown arguing about the money needed to pay for their mother’s rehabilitation treatment. The subject matter is especially resonant given the recent representation of America’s drug crisis on screen in shows such as Hulu’s “Dopesick.”“The themes and characters in ‘Stay Awake’ mean the world to me since they’re based on my childhood.

Jamie Lang One of the hottest titles from Spain at this year’s European Film Market, is Catalan director Carla Simón’s sophomore feature “Alcarrás,” the hotly anticipated follow up to her 2017 debut “Summer 1993.” There, Paris-based MK2 Films will be talking to interested buyers of the recently-finished arthouse entry. To mark the occasion, the sales company has given Variety access to an early clip.A smash hit with critics and festivals alike, Simón’s autobiographical debut “Summer 1993” won the Best First Feature Award and the Generation Kplus Grand Prix jury prize at Berlin in 2017.

Tom Hanks, Gerard Butler, Evan Rachel Wood and Rosamund Pike headline projects being brought onto Berlin’s virtual European Film Market.Just how large its top-tier offers may be is, and the volume of deals, are still open for debate.“Very compact,” Constantin’s Martin Moszkowicz said mid-last week of the EFM, which swelled somewhat thanks to a flurry of title announcements on Feb. 4, followed by a steady trickle of big unveils.“The EFM does not look like it will have the comparable volume of the AFM,” Mister Smith’s David Garrett said.